When Blood Stains the Ground
by Trinity-Kataraina
Summary: Sesshoumaru is Dead. Who killed him? And Why? Inuyasha is desperately trying to figure this out. After losing the only family member he had left, Inuyasha sets off to figure out who the hell dared to strike down Sesshoumaru. He soon runs into a strange new man, going by the name Mikula, who has also lost his brother older brother in similar circumstances. Will they find the killer?
1. Chapter 1

**(Warning : There is very strong language in this storyline, and down the road the rating may become higher because sexual scenes may happen. I am not completely sure where the ending will go at this point. Character views also change, to at times my OC characters and the Inuyasha Characters. Please be patient if you start reading and do not run into your favorite characters right away. The first chapter is my own OC, and chapters after that will contain other characters we all know and love. Enjoy!)**

**Chapter One**

He walked down the path that he had been following for days now. His eyes hidden under his hair as he walked, tired and unseeing as his body moved for him. He didn't know how much further he would walk down this path, when it would part into a fork and he could change course, but he did know he wouldn't stop until he reached the end.

As he walked his mind was cloudy and he didn't seem to notice as the occasional animal ran across his path, fearing his presence. He was lost in his mind, in an horrific memory that played over and over torturously, never giving him a break. At first he had been angry at the memory for not leaving him alone, for making him relive the worst moment of his life again and again. Later he felt nothing but grief as he begged the gods to show mercy for one of his kind just this once. And then, he finally looked closer at the memory, looking for clues so he could finally solve the mystery of it.

He closed his eyes as he allowed himself to, once again, fall into the scene.. Mikula's fist clenched as he tried to keep his anger in tact this time.

_He ran down the path towards the river where he had last seen his brother. He had heard an explosion just a few seconds ago, a tell tale sign that he had been attacked, he would have never released his power otherwise.. He feared it too much._

_ Mikula had been distracted heavily in the near by village, where his brother had sent him to get a few answers. They were here looking for their youngest niece, who had fled to Japan within this last year. Mikula had never quite liked his baby niece, she was a fire mage like himself, and when she had been born, everyone pulled away from him and started to show affection to the new family member. Even his own son had pulled far away from him, losing touch as he day dreamed about his play dates with his cousin._

_ No, Mikula had never liked his niece, and in fact never wanted to come on this mission to begin with. She was a mage who had run away from her master, ignoring the law. In his opinion she deserved whatever came to her out here, whatever happened would have been entirely her own fault. She was after all nineteen years of age, if she hadn't accepted the fact that their race was doomed to be enslaved to the youkai masters of the world, that was her problem not his._

_ He picked up his pace wishing the river was closer. Even at his speed it was taking a few minutes to get there. He felt sorry for the poor sap who tried to mess with his older brother. He was an explosion expert.. And the best out there. His abilities had never been found in any other mage, and this is what made him so deadly to both youkai and mages alike. Thankfully, on top of being one of the more deadly mages out there, he was also one of the kindest, and fairest. He would not kill someone unless there was no other way to spare their lives, he showed mercy to his opponents and often left them alive if his master hadn't directly ordered him to kill them. The only other exception to his mercy rule was if they had personally attacked one of his family members._

_ Mikula had often told his brother that he would fall to his own mercy one day, that allowing someone to walk away would be the death of him. His brother had simply replied, "How can we speak of right and justice if we take a possible innocent creature and shed its blood without questions? How can we pray to the Gods for mercy if we ourselves show none?"_

_ Mikula had been taken aback by his brothers words and after a few moments, he cleared his throat and looked him in the eye, his voice soft as he spoke "Too much mercy... often results in further crimes which were fatal to innocent victims who need not have been victims if justice had been put first… and mercy second." _

_ His brother had blinked once at him, and then laughed and pulled him into his chest hugging him tightly, "Mikula! So you have been listening to my lectures after all… such pride you make me feel for you…" Mikula had flailed to get away as his brother kissed his forehead "… You are turning into a great man again Mikula… even after all you have been through, you are recovering and emerging like a great phenix among its own ashes… never let anyone tell you that you are forever lost, fore all you have to do is find your way again."_

_ As Mikula rounded the corner, he shook his brothers words from his head attempting to focus as he came upon the river. He called his brothers name, "Collin!"_

_ He was met with silence as he looked around. That was odd, his brother answered him within a few seconds every time he called for him. Maybe his hearing had been deafened slightly by the blast, that happened sometimes. Mikula wandered the area for a few moments before a splotch of red finally caught his eye in the river._

_ He stared at it for one heart beat, two heart beats. Then he was rushing toward it, panic in his chest and voice as he called out, more frantically this time "COLLIN!"_

_ He came into the water ignoring the sickening feeling that rushed over him at touching his natural opposite. He grabbed for his brother's shoulder losing his footing at the same time, and yanking them both under. He struggled to hold his breath as his metal shoes dragged him downward. He pulled his brother to his chest and held him there. 'Just hold on a little longer Collin, please. I'll get us up and you can tell me how stupid I was for panicking.'_

_ He kicked at the water pushing himself upward as best as he can. Who knew rivers could be so deep. He grabbed the side of a rock as they began to rush past it, his metal claw digging into it easily. At least now they weren't moving down stream anymore but they were still drowning underwater, something he would have to fix and fast. He lifted his legs, forcing them to cut through the current and placed them on the rock he was desperately clinging to. Then he began to climb out._

_ Once he finally got up on the rock with his brother he jumped to shore and collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily and coughing some water up. He looked around to see how far they had moved down stream. It wasn't as far as he had first thought, it had felt like they were underwater for a while._

_ He turned and flipped his brother over to examine him, and froze. His eyes were open staring up at him… but unseeing. He lifted his hand away from him slowly, in shock for a few moments only to notice his hand was covered in a water down red color. He looked at it and his breath caught in his throat as the washed out scent of his brothers blood hit his senses. He looked down at the body numbly and finally noticed the three holes in his stomach and one in his lung. He ripped the shirt open, blindly hoping that he was just unconscious, wounds like this couldn't take his brother down… he was a hanyou… and on top of that, a mage. Surely he could have over come these wounds._

_ When his bare chest was exposed to the younger brother, he noticed the wounds were much deeper than he had thought. Then he noticed the X carved into his skin over his heart, deeply embedded in his skin and perfectly etched. He stared at it for a moment, frozen as he watched the X. He couldn't hear his heart beat, he couldn't hear anything._

_ His brother was dead. And he knew how it most likely went down. He had been ambushed by the river, and probably easily subdued the attacker. His brother probably then preceded to ask his attacker the cause of his actions, receiving an answer that led him to release him and show him mercy… at which was the moment the attacker struck, and Collin in panic let lose one of his explosions. But somehow the attacker avoided it and tossed his brother into the water, where he quickly bleed to death or drowned, whatever came first._

_ Mikula snarled loudly and tilted his head back to let lose a scream of anger and agony at his fallen brother, clutching him up to his chest._

He yanked out of his memory with a snarl causing a handful of birds to take to the skies near by. He turned in mid step and slammed his metal claw into a tree, causing it to crack and shatter under his strength. He stood there as the splinters rained down around him, panting softly.

If only his brother had listened to him, if only he had kept his mercy to himself a little longer. He had to wonder who was the wiser of the two, his brother had always been calm and collected, full of "words of wisdom" and able to figure out most anything, while Mikula was the brash one who never thought anything through and tended to need his brother to save him often. But, Mikula was still alive… and Collin was not.

Mikula stood straight again pulling his shaking hand back to his side and turning down the path once more. He wasn't going to stop and he wasn't going to let his anger cripple him, instead he would like it empower him. Yes, he would let it fuel his need for vengeance. He would find the creature who did this and drag the name of the man who murdered his brother from their lips. He would find him, corner him and look into the eyes of the man who dared to strike his brother down. And then… he would show him no mercy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Running through the woods was one of the many ways Inuyasha kept his mind from wandering. At least that's how it use to be, back when the only thoughts he had to avoid was his childhood memories. But ever since the time of Naraku had come, and Kagome had gone home to her own time never to return, running did jack shit to distract him.

He often felt nothing but loneliness now when he ran through the woods. Sometimes he would swear he saw a flash of purple by his side, signaling the monk who once ran beside him. Or he would sense the giant cat that the demon slayer had ridden above him. And more times then not, he could swear he felt the slight pressure of the girl who once rode his back when they ran through these woods.

He missed them all. He missed the company, the presence of friends, the comfort that he wasn't alone anymore. But ever since that year passed, he had been alone again. He cursed himself for letting his emotions get so attached to these people. They were his friends and he loved them all dearly, but they had moved on with their lives and he had to face it… they no longer needed him around.

He came to stop on a small hill, panting slightly. He noticed his legs were beginning to be sore, he had been running harder than he thought, as if he could outrun the feelings that were closing in on him.

He stood up straight and looked upward at the sky. Nothing was happening anymore, life had become boring if he dared to think that. He wasn't the type who could just settle down in single village and do nothing with his life, he wanted more. He wanted adventure, the thrill of running for a purpose… and more than anything else… he wanted to be someones hero again.

He looked down at his claws and frowned. He wanted to feel useful to someone, like he had a purpose, and someone who loved him. Sango and Miroku had settled down and started a family, living a peaceful life in his old village. He was happy for them, if not insanely jealous. After all the things they had all went through, they had both found someone who had gone through it as well, someone who understood them and accepted them.

The person who had been by his side through out the year was gone. And most likely she would never be returning to his time again. He shook his head violently and covered his ears as he crouched down on the hill closing his eyes. She was in her time now, a much safer era. He had to remind himself of this constantly. If his loneliness was what it costed to keep her safely away from the murderous demons of this time, then so be it, he wished her all the happiness of the word.

"But still…" he opened his eyes, lowering his hands as he ears drooped and he fell backward on his ass. "That doesn't mean it ain't painful."

He rested his chin in his hand and looked around the field. It was green and flourishing, he could smell so many springy smells mixed in with sweet flower scents, it was making him a bit nauseous. He covered his nose and gahed at the overwhelming scent. Spring was one of the worse times of the year for him, the scent was so overpowering, he was embarrassed to admit that he had fainted once from just stepping into a field of flowers when he was younger.

He uncovered his nose again and stood up, stretching his legs a bit. Time to continue his run, he turned toward the north and paused for a moment. He lifted his nose and sniffed a bit, looking around as he tried to sort through the scents. He tilted his head trying to physically move around the scents as if he could and ended up nearly losing balance and falling on his face.

He growled in frustration and nearly gave up trying to pin point the scent when it finally broke through the air and hit him like a punch to the gut. He froze and sniffed again to be sure his nose wasn't playing tricks on him. Then he took off running as fast as he could.

It couldn't be what he was thinking, his nose had to be playing some sick joke on him. What he had smelled was impossible, completely and totally impossible. There was no way that this could have happened now, not with Naraku gone.

But as he tried to deny what his mind was telling him, the evidence grow stronger and stronger the closer he got. Until finally he came around a corner, panting heavily as his legs tried to give from the sudden burst they had just endured.

He stared at the scene before him, eyes blinking dumbly as he looked at the mass of white that was mixed with red in front of him. There laid his proud and arrogant brother Sesshoumaru, unmoving and covered in his own blood.

Inuyasha nearly laughed, his lips curling upward into a slight smirk as he looked at the body. "Haha… real funny asshole." He let the laugh escape as he walked toward him, tense and ready to jump back when his brother finally reveled himself to be alive, and show that this was a trap. "You really must be gettin' desperate Sesshoumaru, to fake your death so I would come to you. If you really missed me that much princess you could have just visited. Or are ya still after my sword?"

Inuyasha came to stand beside the body and looked down at his brothers face, jumping as panic shot through him for a moment. His eyes were open, and red with the blue pupils unfocused on a spot in front of him. His markings were no longer smooth thin lines on his cheeks like cat whiskers, but were jagged and thick. His mouth was barred in a final snarl, fangs elongated and splitting through his lips a little.

Inuyasha stared at him and then glared "Ya know, you nearly made me kill you right here Sesshoumaru, that face is so ugly it would scare Naraku for christ sake." He tapped his foot once "I'm here now, so you can get up ya jerk and tell me what you want." He reached out and kicked Sesshoumarus thigh jumping back instantly, expecting to be attacked.

When his brother did nothing and only laid there, Inuyasha finally felt the panic fill his chest. It was an instant feeling that left him dizzy and confused as he moved forward again. When his foot had connected with his brother his brother had been slightly stiff and cold, of course this had been what Inuyasha had always imagined his brothers skin to be like. But, he knew from personal experience that his brother had warm blood that pumped through his veins, and that his skin wasn't usually that pale…

He laughed nervously as he approached his brother again "Keh… you really need to start seeing some more sunlight Sesshoumaru… your starting to look deathly pale now…"

His throat tightened as he came to stand over the body, crouching slowly as he looked closer. His brother was covered in his own blood, but he couldn't see any of the wounds. He listened closely for a heartbeat, something he never listened for when he was with his brother.

His heart stopped when he realized he couldn't hear one. He grabbed a hold of his brothers armor and began to fumble with its ties. That lasted about 3 seconds before he slashed them off with his claws, clumsily yanking it off of him. He then grabbed his shirt and ripped it open, flinching badly as he imagined his brother punching him in the jaw for daring.

He stared down at the wounds that were on his chest, and noticed the killing blow on his throat. The last thing he noticed was a perfect X shape that was carved over the heart. He stared down at it in confusion and growled, "What kind of fucken sick joke IS THIS?"

He leaned in and looked at the X, and then up at his brothers face, still twisted in its final snarl. He looked away sharply, he couldn't look at that face, it looked angry and in pain. He sat up more and forced himself to look back at his brothers eyes.

"You asshole. Why would you lets someone do this to you!? Why would you let someone kill you!? What happened to you being an all powerful Youkai huh?! If your so god damn powerful then why are you dead and I'm.. I'm still ALIVE!" He slammed his fist down on the cold chest and lowered his forehead to it, clenching his teeth and closing his eyes, his voice cracking slightly, "… why am I always the one… still alive?"

His shoulders shook with anger and pain as he felt the warmth of tears trying to push past his eyes. He snarled a little, and felt his blood heating from his anger. He lifted his head and looked back at his brothers eyes, before looking away sharply and reaching blindly, finding and shutting them. He looked over the body and spotted the sword at his side. Tenseiga was laying there by its masters side, pulsing weakly and shaking as if it was mourning the death of it's wielder.

Inuyasha got a ray of hope as he reached out and snatched the sword, sheath and all and drew it over his brother. He stared down at the body and then looked at the sword, willing it to do what it was suppose to do, to save his brothers life.

Nothing was happening, and Inuyasha felt his blood pressure rising. He tried to remember if he ever saw his brother use the sword. He had only witnessed it once if he remembered correctly, what had his brother done… His brain clicked as he remembered his brother had swung the sword over the body and then after a few seconds, gave it life. He mindlessly swung the sword over his brother a few times, and then waited. Nothing happened.

He snarled, "Come on your stupid sword!" He swung again, and again. Still nothing was happening. He stared at the sword as if it had personally betrayed him. "What the hell is wrong with you!? Is it because I'm a hanyou!? IS THAT IT? Because I'm a hanyou I can't CARE ENOUGH TO SAVE A LIFE?" The sword pulsed weakly at him, and he threw it down on the ground, collapsing again beside his brother.

He leaned forward and pulled him up against him, eyes unfocused as he finally felt the tears fall. His shoulders shook as he let the reality that his only family member left was now dead crash over him. He closed his eyes and clutched to him a little, not caring if anyone or anything saw him now, he had lost a connection that he would never feel again. His voice was low as he spoke to the corpse, "I guess you were right Sesshoumaru… I am just a useless hanyou, I can't even wield that stupid sword and save you… I can't save… anyone."

He shook his mind, trying to rid the faces of all those he had failed to save. Face after face invaded his mind, even his friends usually saved each other or themselves… only on a few occasions did he actually play a key role in helping them… even in the end all he did was stand beside Kagome as she saved the world from the Jewel. Kikyou's face passed through his mind as he thought of Kagome and his shoulders shook even harder. He wasn't meant to save people… he should have gotten that message from the very beginning, he should have realized it then and stopped trying.

Sesshoumarus face replaced hers, as cold and passive as ever as it leered at him. He couldn't help but smirk under his tears, that look once angered and fueled him, making him want to work harder, as hard as he had to, to wipe that infuriating look off his smug face. Now… he would give anything to have it back.

He stood slowly, lifting his brother into his arms. He had to bury him, he couldn't leave his body out here for anything to find it. He felt the anger boiling again, as rage took hold of his heart. He would find who did this… even if it killed him. He looked down at the sword on the ground and then scooped it up and put it beside his own sword who pulsed at its presence.

He turned and walked toward the field he had just come from, eyes hallow and hidden. He would find the man who did this, and he would kill him. His last kill before he finally, joined his brother in the afterlife… and beat the shit out of him for letting this happen.

(I hope that you guys are enjoying the story so far. I will update this in a few days deepening on how many views/comments I receive. If no one seems interested I will not bother uploading any more of the story. Until next time! :)


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